INTERESTS

Archaeology and history of the Late Republic-High Roman Empire; Greek and Roman architecture; Roman urbanism; Roman Britain; literacy; gift-giving; modern material culture studies; representations of the contemporary city as ruin in art, film, and literature.

EDUCATION

Stanford University, Department of Classics (1999-2008)
Ph.D. Classics (Archaeology track)
Dissertation: A Cultural Studies Approach to Roman Public Libraries: Social Negotiation, Changing Spaces, and Euergetism
Committee: Profs. Michael Shanks, Jennifer Trimble, and Ian Hodder

University of Wales, Lampeter, Department of Archaeology (1997-1998)
Ph.D. candidate, transferred to Stanford

University College London, Institute of Archaeology (1995-1996)
M.Sc. Archaeology and Ancient History of Disease
Dissertation: The Roman/ Anglo-Saxon Transition: A Discussion of Life Stress and Its Visibility
Committee: Prof. Simon Hillson, Tony Waldron M.D.; with advice from Prof. Vivian Nutton

University of Wales, Lampeter, Departments of Archaeology and Classics (1991-1994)
B.A. (Hons) Ancient History and Archaeology, First Class
Dissertation: Ephesos: A Discussion of the Negotiation of Space Under the Roman Empire
Adviser: Keith Hopwood

CURRENT POSITIONS

Classics Bibliographer, Stanford University Libraries (2009-present)
Operations Manager, Art and Architecture Library, Stanford University (2007-present)
Previously: Evening Supervisor, Art and Architecture Library, Stanford University (2005-2007)

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

Co-Principal Investigator with Richard Hingley, David Petts, Michael Shanks, and Gary Devore on the Durham-Stanford Binchester Roman Fort Excavations (Dec 2008-present)

Principal Project Manager of Mobile Media 2015, Stanford Humanities Lab in collaboration with Daimler-Chrysler RTNA (2005)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD EXPERIENCE

Supervisor, IRC (American Institute for Roman Culture)-Oxford-Stanford Archaeological Project in the Roman Forum (Aug 2004-Sept 2004).

Supervisor, IRC-Oxford-Stanford Archaeological Project in the Roman Forum (Jul 2003-Aug 2003).

Zone Supervisor, Monte Polizzo Bronze Age Project (Jun 2002-Aug 2002).

Assistant Director, Monte Polizzo Magnetometry Project (Jun 2001-Jul 2001).

Finds Officer, Monte Polizzo Bronze Age Project, Sicily (Jun 1999-Jul 1999).

Site Technician (professional), Oxford Archaeological Unit.  Rescue excavations (Jun 1997-Aug 1997).

Archaeologist Grade II (professional), Hertfordshire Archaeological Trust (now Archaeological Solutions). Rescue excavation (Apr 1997-May 1997).

Site Assistant (professional), Essex County Council Field Archaeology Group.  Rescue excavations (Sept 1994-Mar 1995).

Site Assistant, Goldcliff—Intertidal/ wetland sites, Mesolithic and Iron Age periods (Aug-Sept 1994).

Site Assistant, Carew Castle Archaeological Project (Jun 1994-Aug 1994).

Site Assistant, Carew Castle Archaeological Project (Aug 1992).

Work Experience Placement at Manchester Museum working with Prof. A J Prag (July 1990).

Exhibit: Elements of Interpretation: Interactions Between Archaeological Fragments, Art, and Audience, Art & Architecture Library, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (2009).

Shanks, Michael, Platt, David, and Bill Rathje (2004) “The Perfume of Garbage: Archaeology and Modernity” in Modernism/modernity, 11:1, 61-83. [Download article].

Trimble, Jennifer and David Platt (2003) “Magnetometry survey at Monte Polizzo, Sicily” in Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 48, 317-333.

Platt, David (1997) Review of “Andy Boddington et al (1996) Raunds Furnells: The Anglo-Saxon church and churchyard, London: English Heritage” in Medical History, 41:4, 523.

AWARDS, HONORS, AND FELLOWSHIPS

Geballe Research Fellowship (2003-2004)
Stanford University Graduate Fellowship (1999-2003, 2004-2005)
University of Wales Research Fellowship (Sept 1997-Dec 1998)
British Academy of Humanities Postgraduate Fellowship (Oct 1995-Sept 1996)
University of Wales, Lampeter, Ancient History Prize (Summer 1994)
British Institute of Archaeology in Ankara Travel Grant (Summer 1993)

CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

“Reading Libraries: Libraries and Literary Culture in the Roman Empire” at the Stanford Humanities Center.  May 2004.

“Beyond the Façade: Reading Libraries in the Roman Empire” at the Stanford Archaeology Center Workshop.  Feb 2004.

“Where London Stood: Representations of the Contemporary City as Ruin” at the Stanford Archaeology Center.  Jun 2003.

“The Agony and the Agon: Choosing a Dissertation Topic in Archaeology”—joint presentation with Meg Butler, Stanford Archaeology Workshop.  Apr 2003.

“The Mighty Mini”, Stanford Archaeology Center.  Jan 2003.

Moderator and Organiser, Panel on The Gendered Body, Stanford Archaeology of the Body Conference. Feb 2002.

Co-Organiser, Archaeology of the Body Conference, Stanford.  Feb 2002.

“Beyond the Façade: The Library of Celsus in Ephesos”, Stanford Archaeology Center.  Oct 2001.

“Meaning and the Mini: Nostalgia, Hyperreality, and Changing Meaning”, Stanford Classics Graduate Colloquium.  Dec 2000.

“Ephesos: A Discussion of the Negotiation of Power Relations in a Greek City Under Rome”, Liverpool TAG.  Dec 1996.

TEACHING (AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY)

Introduction to Roman Archaeology (Instructor), 8 undergraduates.  Spring 2005.

Gender, Violence, and the Body in Ancient Religion (TA), 20 undergraduates.  Winter 2005.

Roman History: Myths, Heroes, and Villains (TA), 12 undergraduates.  Spring 2002.

Gender, Power, and Space in Ancient Rome (TA), 84 undergraduates.  Winter 2002.

History and Culture of Ancient Egypt (TA), 280 undergraduates.  Spring 2001.

Introduction to Prehistoric Archaeology (TA), 96 undergraduates.  Fall 2000.

INFORMAL TEACHING (ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS)

Excavation and recording techniques, Roman Forum Project, 30 undergraduates.  Summer 2004.

Excavation and recording techniques, Roman Forum Project, 20 undergraduates.  Summer 2003.

Excavation and recording techniques, Monte Polizzo Excavation, 8 undergraduates and graduates.  Summer 2002.

Magnetometry survey techniques, Monte Polizzo Excavation, 20 undergraduates rotated over the course of four weeks.  Summer 2001.

Finds processing and lab techniques, Monte Polizzo Excavation, 20 undergraduates.  Summer 1999.

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Member of SULAIR Disaster Response Team. 2008-2009.

Member of SULAIR Circulation Planning Group. 2007-2009.

Founding Member of Stanford Archaeology Center’s Theory Reading Group.  2007.

Co-compiler of bibliography for 28 articles in the Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, edited by Ian Morris, Richard Saller, and Walter Scheidel.  2004.

Chair and Organiser, Classics Graduate Colloquia.  2002-2003.

Graduate Student Representative, Stanford Archaeology Center Faculty Committee.  2002-2003.

Secretary, Archaeology Student Meetings.  2002-2003.

Moderator and Organiser, Panel on The Gendered Body, at the Stanford Archaeology of the Body Conference.  Feb 2002.

Co-Organiser, Stanford Archaeology of the Body Conference.  Feb 2002.

Teaching Support - IHUM 42: Contested Identities.  Fall 2001.

Teaching Support - CLASSART 33: Landscape.  Winter 2000.

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